Another Chance
by pandora1017
Summary: Matt Hardy tests the limits of the new kid. *slash*
1. Hardy

Title: "Another Chance"  
Author: pandora1017  
Rating: PG-13  
Content: Corruption! Slash! Mwahaha!  
Notes: Aha! Did I win? Am I the first with this pairing? This is my first Matt Cappotelli fic, and it's also the first I've seen. I was hoping to set a bar of some kind, but I couldn't figure out how to end it, so this is what I got instead. It's... eh. It's finished. 

Characters:  
Matt Hardy  
Matt Cappotelli  
Adam Copeland = Edge 

.

"Don't do it, Matt."

There was a sense of urgency in his voice, but I ignored it, still watching the young man across the table from me. He was hard to see through the thick smoke and the dim lights, as Adam was hard to hear over the loud music pounding through out the VIP room of the skeezy club we were in - but I managed, enthralled by his every feature. Curly, bleach blond hair framed his face, hanging just above his broad shoulders, and warm chocolate colored eyes - that just happened to match my own - danced over the faces of the boys at the table. They hadn't yet found mine, but they were working their way over. He smiled at jokes, but wasn't really in one particular conversation, just watching from the outside. I felt an elbow in my side, and grudgingly pulled my eyes off of him.

"What?" I demanded, sounding harsher than I intended to my friend. He recognized this and frowned at me.

"Don't do it," he repeated, as if I hadn't heard the first time. "He has no idea."

I rolled my eyes at Adam. "We didn't force him t'come with us."

"He's new, he wants to get in good with the guys - not in bed with the guys."

"How d'you know?" I smirked at him, causing him to frown back at me.

"Matt..."

Knowing that Adam didn't have anything more to say, I looked away from him and back to the new kid. Adam, me, and some friends had decided to go out after a house show, and invited the new 'Tough Enough' winner who was touring on SmackDown! brand with us. He had been eager... excited. I'm not sure why, he hadn't touched a drop of alcohol all night. He seemed just content to be with us. Perhaps that was what drew me to him - his youthful excitement of just receiving his contract reminded me of my own, however many years back. He was innocent and genuinely excited to be here - and we were happy to have him. Or, at least, I was. I watched him as he continued to examine his environment, still trying to find his niche. His eyes trailed over my friends slowly, but he seemed ill at ease. Not uncomfortable, yet still on the edge of his seat. He looked... nervous. Yes, that was it, I realized as his eyes finally met mine. He smiled hesitantly, obviously not expecting to find me staring at him with my unsettling smirk. But here I was, just the same. He only watched me for a moment before pulling his eyes away cautiously. I knew he wanted to fit in, but wasn't sure of how to manage it.

I could help him.

I set one foot on the ground as I climbed off the high stools we were perched on, then felt a hand on my shoulder. "Matt."

"Yes?"

"Just..." Adam sighed as I looked back to him, flatly. "Just go easy, ok?"

My lips curled back into that trademarked smirk, and Adam frowned, taking his hand off my shoulder. Go easy? You got it. I dropped my hands into the loose pockets of my jeans and calmly walked to the other side of the table, placing myself behind the new kid. When I finally snuck up next to him, I leaned forward and whispered - just loud enough for him to hear, but not Jamie Noble next to him - "Do ya dance?"

He almost fell off his stool. When he turned to me, his eyes were wide - definitely surprised - and his jaw was working as if he was planning on speaking, but - nothing. I smiled. It had been a while since I'd had this effect on one of the boys. "Matt, right?"

He nodded slowly, still appearing edgy, and I held out my hand. "Me, too."

"I... know, I know," he answered quickly, taking my hand, finding his tongue, and trying to smile. "I'm a fan."

I smiled again. "So, d'ya dance?"

"What?"

"D'y'want a drink?" I tried revising my approach. He smiled as if he thought he had simply misheard me the first two times.

"Oh, no, thanks, man, I don't drink."

"Water," I corrected quickly, and his eyebrows raised with understanding.

"Oh... uh, sure."

We watched each other expectantly for a moment. He looked like he was waiting for me to go get it for him and I looked at him as if I didn't intend to leave his side for the rest of the night. Which, in all actuality, I didn't. I raised a brow at him, indicating that he should come with me, and he looked surprised again but now making the connection. He slid off the bar stool he was sitting on and we left the table, not receiving any attention - save Adam's. A few steps later, we were at the bar and I ordered for him, just to show him where I stood at the beginning. One of those hints that meant nothing to him now, but he'd understand before the end of the night. Perhaps I was looking too much into two bottles of overpriced water, but perhaps my paying for them as well would clue him in. I mean, Adam was right - the least I could do was give the poor kid a heads up.

"So... uh..."

"Y'looked bored," I explained after I wet my throat with the nice, icy water. He nodded at me as if that made sense to him and took a drink himself. "I thought I'd try t'alleviate that. D'ya dance?"

He froze, with the bottle halfway to his mouth, watching me and finally realizing that I wasn't planning on letting this drop. I nodded towards the dance floor and he frowned slightly, looking in that direction. "I'm not a very good dancer..."

I smiled and set the not nearly empty bottle on a table. "Me either. C'mon."

He followed - albeit, hesitantly - but followed just the same. The VIP room dance floor was crowded and sweaty, looking like a mass of tangled limbs, breathing in time to the rhythmic beat. It was tight, it was compact, it was alive - it was perfect for getting lost in the middle of and leaving him no escape.

Heh, just don't let him know that. Hey - why wasn't he following? He was looking over the crowd slowly with a slight frown. He was looking for... a girl. I frowned impatiently and went back to the edge of the floor, calling over the music, "What's th'hold up?"

"I never know who to ask to dance with..." he shrugged, not bothering to acknowledge the obvious answer. I moved myself into his glance and saw that nervous look once more. He just watched as I stepped even closer, leaning in and bringing my mouth towards his ear.

"Don't force it," I murmured, close enough for him to hear my suddenly quiet voice. Close enough to smell his musky cologne. Close enough to let my breath tease his neck and gently disturb his curls. He, of course, flinched and pulled away from me, that look of surprise never failing. We watched each other for a moment before he nodded and took a step onto the dance floor. I took his wrist and set his hand on my shoulder, so I could lead and not lose him. He flinched almost unnoticably at my touch, but let me guide him and - after a moment - even gripped my shoulder slightly. We were quickly swallowed by the seething crowd and I decided we were far enough in, then turned to him.

"What are we doing?" he yelled over the music. I looked at him blankly as if I couldn't hear, forcing him to come closer. And he did, leaning in and yelling again, "What are we doing?"

"Dancin'?" I asked, leaning towards him myself, leaving just one small inch of air between us. One jolt from any side and we would be pressed up against each other. I think I was waiting for that jolt. He, however, was oblivious, and leaned towards my ear again.

"With who?" he asked, making eye contact with a girl who smiled at him while dancing with her also female friends. I decided to finally make my purpose clear and slid my hand down his forearm to his fingers. That got his attention, and he snapped his eyes to mine, looking like a deer in headlights. Despite his best efforts to look completely and utterly shocked by my touch, there was still a sparkle in his eyes that he couldn't hide. There was something about him that wanted to be smiling, I could see it. I liked the feel of his skin under my fingertips and I'd be damned if he didn't -

"I can't do this," he said quieter than he hand been speaking and abruptly pulling his hand away from mine. I tried to not look too offended.

"Why not?" I asked, leaning in again so as not to have to yell.

"I don't want to look gay," he answered quickly. I pulled away abruptly this time, watching him levely. He faltered under my glance, then lifted his hand and pointed behind him with his thumb. "Maybe I'd better... go back and..."

"I'm sorry," I apologized quickly, making him stop mid-turn. He looked to me slowly. "I didn't mean t' - gimme another chance."

He didn't respond, just stared at me, slightly nervously, then turned his glance to the floor.

"We can go somewhere else," I coaxed, leaning towards him again, but not as aggressively. He flashed his warm brown eyes back towards me for a second in response. "Off th'dance floor..."

"Where?" he asked, rocking towards me for the one short word.

"There some empty couches over there," I gestured, leaning in once more but not moving back this time. He didn't respond, just watched his own shoes. His stillness in the moving crowd made his discomfort that much more obvious and I sighed. "Would'ja rather stay here?"

He didn't bother responding to this, he just turned away from me to leave. Before that, however, he took my wrist and set my hand on his shoulder. I smiled, and held on to the thick muscle for the short ride. As soon as we reached the edge of the crowd, he subtly - though not subtly enough - pulled away from me as he turned to face me. Dropping my hands back into my pockets, I nodded towards the couches that were pushed back in an alcove next to the floor and he lead me that direction. He seemed to have chosen one, so I sat down in the corner of it, leaning back and throwing my arms along the back, getting comfortable. He sat down just out of arms reach, sinking into the couch and flicking his eyes towards me tenatively. The music was quieter over here, conducive for conversation.

"So you're...?"

"Gay?" I frankly supplied for him. "Yeah."

"Oh," he nodded in understanding and remained frozen in his position. I couldn't help but smile at his discomfort, compared to my calm. He started again, weakly. "Do you have a..."

"Boyfriend? No."

"Oh."

"Are y'homophobic?" I asked, flippantly.

"No!" he answered quickly, jumping slightly. He finally met my glance, as if to prove he wasn't, then started sputtering again as he looked away, "I.. just..."

"Like girls?"

"Yeah," he sighed, and frowned as if he was almost apologizing to me. There was a silence while I watched him shift in his seat. I started to smirk again, and he tried to speak once more. Out of curiosity or fear of silence, I'm not sure. "Are you... uh... were you... um..."

"Hittin' on ya?"

"Uh," he breathed with yet another quick glance, "yeah."

"Yes."

Now I had his attention. He turned to me slowly, completely blown away by my bluntness. I couldn't help but laugh slightly at his naivity, and that startled him out of his silence. "I thought you were with..."

"Adam?"

"Amy."

"Ah," I nodded, knowingly. "Lotsa people do."

"You do that on purpose?"

"Teenage girls scream louder when they think they got a chance."

He nodded, understanding. I took this opportunity to lean forward, a little closer to him, and rest my elbows on my knees. He studied me from the corner of his eye, as if he was trying to not look obvious. I smiled. "Are ya uncomfortable?"

"Uh," he stuttered, "no..."

"Honestly?"

His chest rose and fell with a deep sigh before he responded quietly, "A little..."

"It's all right," I assured him, brushing my fingers lightly over the fabric along his side. I could feel a sharp intake of breath from him and continued. "I won't hurt'cha."

"I know... I just..."

I started smirking again when he failed to pull away. "I'm not contagious..."

That elicited, finally, a weak smile. "I know."

"Matt."

We looked up in unison at our name, him with his shocked look and me with my slight scowl. Adam acknowledged me first. "Everyone's clearing out. Want to go?"

"Do I get a choice?" I smiled softly, getting to my feet. Matt stood up next to me with a slight frown.

"Did Jamie already leave?" he asked, sounding slightly worried.

Adam frowned and nodded. "I told him you could come with me and Matt."

I fought my smirk, though I know it was a losing battle. Adam caught that and pursed his lips distastefully as he kept his eyes on Matt. "If you don't mind..."

"It's all right," he answered, more resolutely than either of us had expected. I looked up to see the kid standing taller - somehow different. As if Adam's presence made him feel safe. Perhaps he had reason to, but... perhaps he didn't, I thouhgt to myself, refraining from speaking. Adam raised a brow at him, then nodded.

"All right, let's go then." 


	2. Cappotelli

First, I don't know how I got here. Second, I don't know why I didn't flee when I had the chance.

I don't like men, I don't like men.

I don't.

With that, I looked up at the two men in the front seats of the rented SUV. Adam was sitting as straight as he could without hitting his head on the ceiling while Matt was slouched, looking like he would melt through that chair if he could. He was oozing... I don't even want to think about what he was oozing. That's what had gotten me into this mess.

"What's th'plan for t'marra?" Matt asked Adam lazily, his right arm stretched over his head and holding the headrest.

"Get up before noon, first," Adam said with a chuckle. _So Matt liked to sleep in_, I filed somewhere in the back of my brain, not even realizing I was doing it. I shook my head slightly when I caught myself and slid further down in my seat, hoping that Adam - or Matt - couldn't see how red my face was turning. Matt laughed slightly at Adam, then turned his attention back to the radio, switching the station from a commercial, looking for something better. He finally settled on a Stone Temple Pilots song and slid fluidly back into the seat. There he goes, oozing again.

I really didn't need to be thinking like this. I was astounded by how, mere hours ago, I could have sworn up and down that I liked women. Then Matt had to go and... touch me. Was that it? Was that all he had done? I would have thought that it would have taken more than a little touch to make me change my whole outlook on life like that.

Wait! Change, nothing! Nothing had changed. Matt had hit on me. I turned him down. It was that simple. And now we were going back to the hotel and I was going to go room with Jamie and pretend like nothing had happened. I mean, most likely, Adam didn't even know what had happened. No one knew, it was between me and Matt. And Matt wouldn't tell anyone, would he? Of course not. He wasn't the type to...

He was still looking at me, I realized as I cast my eyes up to the rearview mirror. I couldn't see the rest of his face, but the reflection of his dark eyes was undeniably watching me. I looked away quickly, but he spoke anyway. 

"Y'all right back there?" he asked, innocently enough. "Awfully quiet..."

I hadn't realized how dry my throat was until I tried to speak. "I, uh..."

"We're almost to the hotel," Adam saved me, casting a chiding glance to Matt across from him. I gulped silently. Adam _did_ know. Looking up to the rearview mirror again, I saw that Matt was still watching me, so I did the only thing I was capable of doing at that point in time - blushing. Matt's eyes seemed to sparkle mischeviously, but I fully intended to credit that to the headlights of the car passing us, going the other way. Matt seemed to want to speak again, but I looked out my window and smiled when I recognized the hotel ahead on the left. Matt just remained silent, then, as Adam parked the truck.

"Would'ja mind helpin' us carry our stuff upstairs?" Matt asked, innocently again.

"You don't have -"

"It's fine," I cut Adam off, grabbing a random bag. That teasing smirk came back to Matt's lips, reminding me that I shouldn't be looking at his lips. I followed the two men inside and upstairs. Apparantly, Adam had already checked in but not brought his bags in. Matt and Adam joked between themselves lightly, almost oblivious to me. I was under the impression that Adam was trying to prevent Matt from talking to me more than he already had, so I let it go. I trailed a few steps behind them, alone with my thoughts - which were dwelling much more on Matt than I would have liked. Not Matt as a whole, just the little parts of him. Like the fingertips - lots of thoughts of the fingertips. How they had been just a normal part of his body when he took my wrist to lead me to the dance floor, but transformed into malicious weapons of sexuality conversion when they barely brushed my side. My side? Of all the places, why would that keep my interest?

And why, pray tell, was I still thinking of it?

His fingers should have no bearing on who I was interested in, it was that simple. I was testing myself like this, I reminded myself, to show that he had no effect on me. I mean, I'd gone a whole -

Oh, for the love of... I'd been thinking of him the entire time. It was then that I noticed that he had fallen silent with Adam up there. I looked up just as he looked back at me. I smiled hesitantly, not wanting to seem scared. Adam stopped in front of room 330 and I accidentally filed that number in my brain. Oops. The three of us filed into the room, setting our loads down on the beds. Adam looked up at me and smiled. "Thanks for your help. We can get it from here."

I nodded politely, then turned to leave.

"Y'gonna shower now?" Matt asked Adam as I was leaving.

"Yeah, and you can have it in the morning."

I shut the door behind me and froze. He had done that on purpose. He had told me, in his own weird way, that I could come back with in the next ten minutes if I was curious...

Yeah, right. Not at all, I reminded myself as I started down the hall, shivering slightly to shake off the weird vibes from Matt. We'd had our run in, I had walked away. That was that. He most likely understood that and we could just go on with our lives, knowing what to expect from each other.

Yes. Exactly. No problem.

Why wasn't I walking? I looked down and noticed that my feet were completely still, I hadn't taken a step past ten feet from Matt's door. I think my first mistake was looking back at Matt's door. Because after that, my shoulders turned. Then my feet. The next thing I knew, I was walking back. Why? Why was I going back there? I didn't want to go through that again - we could just pretend like nothing had happened, it'd be find.

What? What is this? Why was my hand raising to knock on his door? No! Stop! Why was I knocking? I didn't know what to say to him, why was I drawn to him? Ok! Ok! I'll admit it - he scares the shit out of me! Why am I knocking on the door - oh, dear God, why is he looking at me like that? He's looking at me like he's expecting me to do something... he's smirking. That evil smirk. I don't know what came over me. I don't know why this idea popped in my head. I... I...

I kissed him.

When I realized what I had just done, I took a quick step back and looked at him. He, understandably, looked just as surprised as I felt. There was a moment of complete stillness before the corners of his mouth turned up in a smile. He leaned forward and kissed my forehead lightly.

"Ah'll see ya t'marra," he whispered in that accent of his, lightly brushing my neck with those fingertips again. I nodded, unable to form words, and he shut the door in front of me. 


End file.
